


Open Cards

by Katbelle



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Children, F/M, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-08
Updated: 2012-05-08
Packaged: 2017-11-05 01:31:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/400444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katbelle/pseuds/Katbelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are things you learn when it's already over. There are also things you never learn at all.</p><p>In which the Push is enough to keep up the team spirit and Nick Fury is the best godfather ever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Open Cards

**Author's Note:**

> MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE AVENGERS. IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE AND YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED, CLICK "BACK" NOW.

**Open Cards**

It's been four days since Thor took the Tesseract and his brother and beamed up to outer space. Another dimension, realm, whatever. It's been a week since Manhattan was almost leveled and Clint still doesn't sleep. Nightmares would be fine, Natasha can deal with nightmares - and she'd be finally repaying him for comforting _her_ when she needed it - but Clint simply refuses to close his eyes. So she sits with him on the cold tiles of one of SHIELD New York base's top floors, lets him stare blankly at the city, slowly returning to life, and dutifully pokes him in the side when his head falls onto her shoulder. She hates herself for agreeing to keep him awake, but - all things considered - it's the best she can do for him. If she lets him sleep, as she yearns to, he'll wake up screaming and will consider it a betrayal on her part. She won't be permitted to sit by him any more, and right now he _needs_ to be looked after. At some point - and soon, soon - he will either see reason or crash all on his own. And then she'll be there for him.

Maria finds them on day eight, sitting close to the giant windows, so close that if Natasha reached out, she would touch the glass. The thick glass is a barrier Natasha is grateful for; this way they can see what they've saved, but they don't have to go out and face everything that's been lost.

"Tasha."

Natasha looks up and presses a finger to her lips, mutely instructing Maria to be quiet. Clint's lying on the floor with his head in Natasha's lap; he'd lied down half an hour ago and told her that he'll just close his eyes for a few minutes. Natasha hasn't moved since.

"Finally," Maria murmurs as she crouches next to Natasha. "Sharon said it'd be cruel to tell you, but Fury and I think you have the right to know."

"Know what?" Natasha asks, but she already suspects, solely from Maria's crestfallen expression.

"They've decided on Monday. This Monday, to be precise." Natasha nods and wonders how many favours Nick Fury must have pulled. "Just so you know - no one will hold it against you if you don't come. We all know the state Barton is in and Laura--"

"We'll be there," Natasha promises quietly and strokes Clint's hair. Clint whimpers softly and tries to grab the material of her jeans. She moves her hand so that he can squeeze that.

Maria nods and gets up. She looks out of the window, at the city all around and beneath them. She chuckles.

"So much work," she muses. "So much work, for _this_."

***

Tony adds a slide to the model of the new and improved Stark Tower's swimming pool, and wonders why he hadn't thought of that when he was designing the place for the first time, when Pepper nods grimly and puts down her mobile.

"If that's the Mayor trying to sue me for criminal damage, tell him that this time the Norse gods were responsible, not me."

"It wasn't the Mayor," she answers and pads over to him, barefoot, tousle-haired and perfect. Tony puts an arm around her and waits for her to elaborate. "It was agent Sitwell."

"Who?"

"Agent Sitwell," Pepper repeats and licks her lips, "from SHIELD. Phil's-- Your new handler."

She was going to say "Coulson's replacement", Tony knows. Suddenly the stupid slide seems like the dumbest idea ever and Tony takes it off. He turns the tiny cardboard version between his fingers before throwing it into a bin.

"What did he want?"

"He called to tell us that there's a memorial service planned on Monday." Pepper's voice breaks on "memorial service" and Tony is hit with realisation that Pepper _liked_ Coulson. Dealts with him as many times as he did - maybe even less often - but she genuinely liked him. And he didn't even know the guy's _name_ for so long.

"Okay," Tony replies. "I'll need a suit that doesn't scream "bored and sexy". Do I even have one of those?"

"Tony." Pepper puts a hand over his heart - or at least over the arc reactor - and looks at him. She's being dead serious and that alone would be enough to convince Tony that this is _important_. "You don't have to, you have a lot planned--"

"Then reschedule." Tony shrugs. "And if they don't want to meet at a different time, I'm not dealing with them again. This is not about what I have to do, it's about what is right. Right?"

"Yes. Yes, it is."

***

Thor is off-planet and there's no way of communicating with him, even with Selvig and someone named Foster on board, but Tony is still surprised that almost the whole team is here. Bruce is not a surprise - he came with him and Pepper, after all, right after Pepper managed to find out that he was still in the States - but Barton and Romanoff are standing huddled together behind Maria Hill, and Rogers is standing opposite Fury. Tony has no idea where and how they've found Rogers; the last they've seen him, he took a motorbike and took off. He must have closer ties to SHIELD than Tony - then again, it's not that surprising since the guy's been in a coma for almost seventy years and has no friends, no family.

There are SHIELD agents that Tony doesn't recognize, some that Tony has seen carrying things out of his Malibu house; Selvig with some of the SHIELD's consulting brains. There's Rogers, of course, and Fury opposite him, with an arm around-- Tony inhales sharply. He's Tony Stark, playboy billionaire, and he's seen dozens of super models, got photographed with women who actually had papers for being the most beautiful on the planet or in the universe. But there's something enchanting in the woman whom Fury is embracing, in the arch of her neck, in her downcast eyes. It's a quiet kind of beauty, the one that doesn't fade over time, the one that doesn't need any improvement and is regal all on its own. Tony glances at Pepper, clutching his arm. Yes. This is Pepper's kind of beauty.

The service is almost over when Tony notices something - someone - else. A little girl - not older than six, or quite small for an eight-year-old - comes over to Fury and slips her little hand into his much bigger one, starts swinging it. Oh, _God_. This is not something Tony's thought of, he didn't factor _this_ in. He keeps staring at the girl till the end of the ceremony, and he keeps looking at her - digging holes in the ground with the tip of her shoe - when everyone gives their condolences to the sad woman at Fury's right. Barton squeezes her arm and Natasha embraces her, whispers in her ear something that makes the woman smile briefly.

"Mrs. Coulson," Pepper says to the woman, "I'm so sorry for your loss."

"Thank you," Mrs. Coulson replies, and turns to Tony. "I'm honoured that you've managed to come, Mr. Stark. Phil--" She takes a breath. "Phil said a lot of good things about you."

Tony is not sure if he believes her or not; he's too busy looking at the little girl, currently tugging at Rogers' pants and demanding attention. Rogers gets on one knee and talks to the girl in a hushed voice, then reaches out to his pocket, takes something out and hands it to her. The girl lets out a squeak - she doesn't actually understand what's happening, does she? - and beams up at him. What she holds in her little hands looks a lot like a packet of trading cards, and Tony thinks he's going to be sick. The girl nods her thanks, wraps her arms around Rogers' neck and kisses him on the cheek. She giggles and runs back to her mother.

"Unca Nick," she waves the thing - those damn cards - at Fury, "look what Mr. Steve gave me."

She has absolutely no idea what's going on, Tony decides, and for a moment thinks that his heart - which existence so many people doubt - breaks in half. He remembers his own parents' funeral, how crushed he was, even at twenty-one. He knew fully well what it meant. This little girl is soon going to realize that her daddy's not coming home.

"This is great, Daisy," Fury says so gently that Tony thinks for a second that he heard wrong. Fury takes the cards from the girl and Tony sees that they're all signed. Each and every one of them. Cleaned of the blood and signed. Fuck. "Those are special cards and you have to be very careful with them."

The girl takes the cards back and presses them to her chest, and grins up at Fury. Tony notices that she's missing a tooth.

"Everything will be alright, Laura," Fury murmurs to Mrs. Coulson, and for a second, Tony wants to punch him. How is everything going to be alright, the woman's husband is _dead_ , her daughter has no _father_ \-- "We'll make this right."

Laura Coulson exhales and nods, and lets Maria Hill wrap her in a hug and escort her back to one of SHIELD's cars. Fury takes Daisy's hands and they take off after the girl's mother. By the car, Daisy turns around and waves at Tony, and Tony finds himself waving back.

"We need to find her a job," he hears himself saying.

"What?" Pepper asks, confused.

"Coulson's wife," Tony specifies. "We need to find her a job."

"Tony, I'm sure she already has--"

"I know." Tony rubs his forehead. "But I need you to get her a job at Stark Industries. I don't care if she's a physicist, a lawyer or a kindergarten teacher, we need to get her a job." Pepper nods. "And a college fund, we need to establish a college fund for the kid."

"Daisy," Pepper supplies, and Tony can hear that she's smiling.

"Daisy, exactly. So, college fund. Or just, you know, set up an account in her name. When she's old enough she can use it for whatever the heck she wants."

"Yes, sir. Anything else, sir?"

Oh, yes. She's definitely smiling. It's the same smile she had when she left the first arc reactor wrapped on his desk; it's the smile that says "I believe there's good in you". Tony's never been more proud to sustain that belief.

"No, Miss Potts," he says. "I believe that will be all."

***

Fury carried Daisy to bed and kissed her goodnight, and Maria put a blanket over Laura's sleeping form; they've decided not to wake the woman up - it's been a long day and an even longer week. Fury locked the front door of the house and pocketed the spare key - who knows when it'll come in handy.

"What now?" Maria asks as they get into their car. Fury shrugs and starts the engine.

"We carry on," he replies. "We see how long we can keep this up and we make up our next plan as we go."

Maria lets out a small laugh and shakes her head.

"You know? This mess is not going to be so easy to clean up. Or explain. Sir."

"I know." Fury hits reverse and leaves the parking spot in front of the Coulsons' house. "For now it's working out fine. And when it's not-- We'll cross that bridge when we get to it.


End file.
